PARAGUAY'S GROWING CONCERN ABOUT LEFTIST

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 ASUNCION 000200

SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA/BSC, WHA/AND, AND USOAS
DEPT PASS TO USAID LAC/AA
EMBASSY BUENOS AIRES FOR LEGATT
NSC FOR TOM SHANNON/KIM BREIER
SOUTHCOM FOR POLAD DAN JOHNSON

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/07/2015
TAGS: PTER PINR PREL PGOV KCRM PA
SUBJECT: PARAGUAY'S GROWING CONCERN ABOUT LEFTIST
(INCLUDING FARC) THREAT

REF: A. ASUNCION 00199

B. 04 ASUNCION 01247

C. ASUNCION 00148

D. 04 ASUNCION 01602

E. ASUNCION 00152

F. ASUNCION 00188

Classified By: Charge Kevin M. Johnson, reasons 1.4(b) and (d).


1. (S) Summary: Paraguayan authorities have arrested suspects
tied to the leftist Free Fatherland Party (Partido Patria
Libre, or PPL) in connection with the ongoing kidnapping of
Cecilia Cubas. Telephone records connect the suspects to the
kidnapping and ransom negotiations. The GOP claims evidence
showing PPL ties to the FARC in Colombia and Bolivarian
Circles in Venezuela, and direct FARC involvement in
supporting the Cubas kidnapping (ref A). Other leftist
organizations' solidarity with the PPL lends additional
credence to the growing belief that the PPL seeks to organize
an opposition movement in the countryside, with FARC
assistance. President Duarte's recent actions suggest he is
taking the threat of leftist subversion and criminality more
seriously. End Summary.

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The Abduction
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2. (C) On September 21, a group of armed assailants kidnapped
former President Raul Cubas' 31-year-old daughter, Cecilia
Cubas (ref B). The investigation got off to a slow start, in
large part because the Cubas family initially rejected offers
of official assistance with the ransom negotiations, but also
because Paraguayan authorities were disorganized and slow to
pursue several important leads. Ms. Cubas' whereabouts
remain unknown.

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PPL Members Linked to the Crime
--------------

3. (U) The investigation finally produced a string of arrests
in late January, based primarily on telephone records that
connect at least seven suspects to the kidnapping and
subsequent ransom negotiations (ref C). At least two of the
seven suspects in custody, Osmar Martinez and Anastasio
Mieres Burgos, have clear ties to the PPL. Another, Jose
Martinez, is Osmar Martinez's brother. An eighth suspect,
Manuel Cristaldo Mieres, still at large, is Anastasio Mieres
Burgos' nephew.


4. (U) Note: The PPL was outlawed for advocating the violent
overthrow of the government after its two most prominent
members, Juan Arrom and Anuncio Marti, were implicated in the
2001 kidnapping of Maria Edith DiBernardi (ref D). Arrom and
Marti were later granted political asylum in Brazil based on
allegations that they were tortured by police while in
custody. End Note.


5. (U) According to statements Arrom has made to the press
regarding the Cubas investigation, Osmar Martinez and
Anastasio Mieres Burgos were expelled from the PPL in October

2004. However, Arrom has denounced the investigation as an
attempt to "discredit, persecute and repress" the PPL for
"political reasons." Marti has complained that PPL members
are being subjected to human rights abuses, and has expressed
his solidarity with those being "persecuted" by the GOP.

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PPL Connections to the FARC
--------------

6. (S) President Duarte and Attorney General Oscar Latorre
previously reported that Colombian insurgents had helped the
PPL in criminal activities to raise funds, such as bank
robberies and roadside heists, and in organizing unrest in
the countryside (ref E). On February 8, Latorre told Charge
and the Colombian Ambassador to Paraguay that the GOP also
has evidence of direct FARC involvement in supporting the
Cubas kidnapping (ref A).


7. (S) Consistent with what the GOP has told EmbOffs,
Colombian PolOff Raul Sanchez told PolOff that Colombian
intelligence has evidence of email communication between PPL
members and the FARC in Colombia and Bolivarian Circles in
Venezuela. Additionally, at least three PPL members, Anuncio
Marti, Victor Colman and Osmar Martinez, have traveled to
Colombia on several occasions.


8. (U) In recent statements to the press, Osmar Martinez
admitted that the PPL has "friendly relations" with the FARC,
but denied that the PPL is involved in violent criminal
activity.
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Support from Other Leftist Organizations
--------------

9. (U) Other leftist organizations in Paraguay have voiced
solidarity and support for the PPL since the January arrests.
The Patriotic Front (Frente Patriotico, or FP) denounced the
GOP's "institutional imputation of blame for kidnappings on
dissident opposition parties," and filed a complaint with the
Human Rights Committee of the Chamber of Deputies. (Note:
The FP comprises six leftist political parties, none of which
is represented at the national level. It was created in
December 2004, when it elected a unified leadership structure
in preparation for the 2008 presidential elections. End
Note.)


10. (U) Leftist campesino organizations also have voiced
their support for the PPL. Antonio Galeano of the National
Front for the Struggle for Sovereignty and Life (Frente
Nacional de Lucha por la Soberania y la Vida, or FNLSV)
decried the kidnapping investigation as a "witch hunt" and
denounced alleged abuses by the authorities. Luis Aguayo of
the National Coordinating Board of Campesino Organizations
(Mesa Coordinadora Nacional de Organizaciones Campesinas, or
MCNOC) characterized the PPL arrests as "persecution" and
"human rights abuses," and affirmed the MCNOC's solidarity
with the arrested PPL members. (Note: These organizations
did not merely demand evidence proving PPL involvement in the
kidnapping -- a reasonable request given Paraguay's history
and judicial system -- but simply declared the PPL innocent,
in a clearly political move. End Note.)


11. (C) Comment: The PPL members linked to the Cubas
kidnapping hail from the Departments of San Pedro and
Caaguazu, the two regions of greatest anti-government
campesino activity. This fact and the campesino
organizations' expressions of solidarity with the PPL lend
additional credence to the growing belief that the PPL seeks
to organize an opposition movement in the countryside, with
FARC assistance. End Comment.

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Cuban Embassy Enters the Picture
--------------

12. (C) A GOP source also told EmbOff that the Cuban Embassy
hosted a meeting on January 27, which MCNOC representatives
attended, to discuss the alleged persecution of leftist party
members by Paraguayan authorities conducting the kidnapping
investigation and a proposal to further unite the leftist
movement in Paraguay.

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Duarte Out of Patience
--------------

13. (C) Comment: Leftist involvement in the Cubas kidnapping
appears to have been the "last straw" for President Duarte.
Initial warnings from his own allies in 2003 about the Cuban
Doctors' activities in the countryside and other attempts to
exploit rural grievances for political purposes made little
apparent impression on Duarte. As campesino unrest grew in
2004, Duarte took a harder line and with the Cubas kidnapping
is convinced leftists here and abroad seek to undermine his
government. Duarte's support for Colombian President Alvaro
Uribe (ref E) and the recent GOP decision to terminate the
Cuban Doctors program (ref F) suggest that Duarte is taking
the threat of leftist subversion and criminality seriously.
End Comment.
JOHNSON